Shock absorbing honeycomb bumper

ABSTRACT

An automobile bumper constructed from plastic, metallic or paper honeycomb material, and covered by a rubber, metal or plastic shell which may be silvered to provide a simulated chrome bumper. The bumper is shock absorbent to reduce damage to the fenders and body of the automobile during slow speed crashes.

United States Patent 1 Carbone et al.

[ SHOCK ABSORBING HONEYCOMB BUMPER Inventors Angelo F. Carbone,Brooklyn,

N.Y.; Clinton F. Egerton, Stamford,

Conn; Emmanuele Fellacaro, Commack, N.Y.

Angelo F. Carbone, Clinton F.

Egerton and Emmanuele Fallacaro, 7 a part interest to each Filed: Nov.26, 1971 Appl. No.: 202,281

Assignee:

US. Cl 293/1, 52/616, 188/1 C, 293/60, 293/71 R, 296/28 R, 296/31 P Int.Cl..... B60r 19/04, B601" 27/00, B611 19/04 Field of Search 188/88, 1 C;293/1, 293/60, 63, 71 P, 70, 71 R; 52/616; 180/89, 150 B, 150 R; 296/28R, 31 P References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/ 1970 Fitzgerald et al.293/63 8/1966 Gilbert et al 188/88 July 10, 1973 3,512,822 5/1970 Richet a1. 2913/! 3,082,846 3/1963 Jansen et al. 188/1 C 3,506,295 4/1970Yancey 293/70 3,514,144 5/1970 Alderfer 293/71 R 3,587,787 6/1971 Rich188/1 C 3,610,609 10/1971 Sobel 293/70 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS18,213 9/1912 Great Britain 293/71 P 1,923,305 5/1969 Germany 293/71 RPrimary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Howard BeltranAttorneyAllison C. Collard [5 7] ABSTRACT An automobile bumperconstructed from plastic, metallic or paper honeycomb material, andcovered by a rubber, metal or plastic shell which may be silvered toprovide a simulated chrome bumper. The bumper is shock absorbent toreduce damage to the fenders and body of the automobile during slowspeed crashes.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PAIENIEU JUL 1 0191s INVENTORS ANGELO F.CARBONE CLINTON F. EGERTON EM MANUELE FALLACARO ATTORNEY.

1 SHOCK ABSORBING HONEYCOMB BUMPER The present invention relates toautomobile bumpers, and in particular, to an impact absorbing bumpercomprising a plastic, metallic or paper honeycomb core covered by ametal, rubber or plastic shell, for reducing damage to body and fendersof an automobile during slow speed crashes.

In recent years, the function of automobile bumpers has been transformedfrom that of protecting the body and fenders of the automobile fromdamage during low impact and slow speed collisions, to that of adecorative ornament designed more for its style than functionality.Present bumpers are often designed flush with the fenders and body ofthe automobile, attached to the fenders instead of the frame of the car,and in some cases, consist merely of a pair of L-shaped bumpercomponents attached to the front corners of the automobile. Someattempts have been made by automobile manufacturers to produce a shockabsorbent bumper, comprising shock absorbent resilient material, butthese bumpers have proved too expensive to be included on all automobilemodels. It is, therefore, preferable to provide an automobile with ashock absorbing bumper, both in front and rear, which is inexpensive tomanufacture, light in weight and has high strength, to absorb impactshocks during low speed crashes between automobiles.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an impact absorbing bumperfor automobiles comprising a core constructed of plastic, paper ormetallic honeycomb material covered by a rubber, metal or plastic shell.The longitudinal axes of the cells of the honeycomb structure aredisposed parallel to the longitudinal axis of the automobile, to providehigh strength to resist collision forces. The plastic shell may beconstructed of mylar, and silvered by conventional processes to simulatea chrome bumper. The bumper is capable of absorbing impacts during slowspeed collisions occurring in excess of miles per hour.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide anautomobile bumper of light weight and high strength which is capable ofabsorbing impact shocks occurring during slow speed automobilecollisions.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an automobilebumper which prevents damage to the fenders and body of the automobileduring slow speed collisions.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an impactabsorbing automobile bumper which is decorative in design and simulatesa conventional chrome bumper.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a shockabsorbing automobile bumper which is simple in design, easy tomanufacture, and durable in operation.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following detailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings which disclose a single embodiment of theinvention. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings aredesigned for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended as adefinition of the limits and scope of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denotesimilar elements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shock absorbing automobile bumperconstructed in accordance with the present invention shown in use on anautomobile;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the bumper taken along section 22 ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is another cross-sectional view of the bumper taken along section3-3 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown an automobile 10 having frontand rear shock absorbing bumpers 1 l and 12 attached thereto. Bumper 11has a V-shaped contour and extends substantially from the top to thebottom of the fenders of the automobile. A plurality of apertures 13 and14 are provided for the headlights and parking lights of the automobile,and air intake openings 15 are provided for allowing adequate flow ofair to the engine of the vehicle.

The bumper comprises a honeycomb core 16 constructed, for example, ofhard kraft paper, plastic or metal, such as alluminum. Plastic material,such as polyvinyl chloride, urethane, or polyethelene, may be used toconstruct the honeycomb core. The honeycomb material has a plurality ofpolygonal cylinders or cells which are shown in FIG. 3, whoselongitudinal axes are disposed parallel to the longitudinal axis of thecar so that sufficient strength to resist impacts during collisions isprovided. Although the cells are hexagonal shaped, any other suitablegeometric shape may be used. The honeycomb core is covered by a rubber,metal or plastic shell 17 which may be, for example, mylar material. Theplastic shell may also be silvered using conventional methods to producea simulated conventional chrome bumper. The bumper is attached to thevehicle by a pair of T-bolts 19 which are fastened by nuts 20 on fender18.

It should be noted that the honeycomb core may be used alone without themetal, rubber or plastic shell as a bumper. The shell gives the core asmooth finish and permits it to be styled, and adds strength to the corematerial, but it is not absolutely necessary.

The honeycomb material is manufactured by any suitable conventionalprocess during which it is produced in planar form. To form the core,the planar material is expanded to its three-dimensional form shown inFIG. 3. The honeycomb, once expanded, has no memory, that is, there areno forces present in the core inducing it to fold back to its planarform. Hence, the shell is not absolutely necessary. However, the coredoes have a memory as far as its three-dimensional form is concerned,and the cells will return to their original extended longitudinalconfiguration, over a period of time, after a collision.

The bumper of the present invention is light weight, yet has extremelyhigh strength and good impact absorption because of the use of thehoneycomb core. The honeycomb material is easily styled and cut,especially in its planar form, to any desired configuration, and isextremely inexpensive to manufacture, costing a fraction of the cost ofconventional metal bumpers. The bumper of the present invention willalso absorb collision impacts of up to 10 miles an hour without causingdamage to the vehicle, a significant improvement over conventionalautomobile bumpers.

While only a single embodiment of the present invention has been shownand described, it will be obvious to those persons skilled in the artthat many changes and modifications may be made thereunto withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A shock-absorbing bumper for mounting on a rigid planar surfacedisposed substantially across the width on at least one end of a vehiclecomprising:

a resilient shock absorbing honeycomb member having honeycomb cells ofpolygonal cross-sectional shape, wherein adjacent cells have at leastone contiguous wall and the longitudinal axes of said cells are disposedsubstantially parallel to the direction of travel of said vehicle, saidhoneycomb member having a width approximating that of the planarmounting surface, said honeycomb member having a cell depth greater thanthe width of an individual cell, said cells having a memory to return totheir extended longitudinal configuration after impact;

mounting means for securing said resilient honeycomb member to theplanar mounting surface, the back of said honeycomb member having asubstantial area for disposal across the surface of the planar surfacefor absorbing shock across the width of the vehicle; and

an outer shell encasing said resilient honeycomb member to provide asmooth exterior surface and to simulate a conventional bumper.

2. The bumper as recited in claim 1, wherein said resilient member andsaid outer shell are molded so as to form the front or rear portion ofthe automobile, and include recesses for receiving the automobile lampsand grille, the dimensions of said rigid shock-absorbing member and saidouter shell being substantially the same as the dimensions of the frontor rear portion of the automobile to which the bumper is affixed.

3. The bumper as recited in claim 1, wherein said outer shell disposedabout said honeycomb member is plastic member, and wherein saidhoneycomb material is constructed of plastic.

2. The bumper as recited in claim 1, wherein said resilient member andsaid outer shell are molded so as to form the front or rear portion ofthe automobile, and include recesses for receiving the automobile lampsand grille, the dimensions of said rigid shock-absorbing member and saidouter shell being substantially the same as the dimensions of the frontor rear portion of the automobile to which the bumper is affixed.
 3. Thebumper as recited in claim 1, wherein said outer shell disposed aboutsaid honeycomb member is plastic member, and wherein said honeycombmaterial is constructed of plastic.